Car Blog

Vauxhall raised a few eyebrows today when it announced its brand new city car would be called the Adam. The name is inspired by the 150th year anniversary of the manufacturer, which was founded by a guy called Adam Opel. The news got us thinking and we started to ponder what other cars might be in the offing if car manufacturers decided to name new models after their founders. The notion is not without some sort of precedent of course. There's the Ferrari Enzo and Ford Edsel. And Aston Martin's DB series is named after owner Dave Brown. And while the Renault...

Supercars. Think about them. Travelling at 200mph. Sprinting to 60mph in three seconds. Returning 4mpg on the combined cycle. Bursting into flames on the side of a road. It's startling how often supercars seem to burst into flames with little in the way of encouragement. But they keep bursting into flames nonetheless. Whether it's technical issues, a shunt or, well, whatever it is that keeps happening to supercars that sees them reduced to piles of ashes by the side of a road, rarely a week goes by without another £100K beauty going to meet its maker. And the new Lamborghini Aventador...

Seatbelts, airbags, side-impact bars. Once a madman's dream - now the reality in any car you care to buy, in the UK at least. But while these inventions may seem mundane in this day and age there are other safety aids so bizarre that they could cause you to, well, lose control of your vehicle. Some of these new safety ideas may seem revolutionary and some may seem a little ridiculous with each safety feature aimed at either protecting someone in an accident, or preventing an accident from happening. Below is a countdown of the top five most fascinating, brilliant - or,...

BMW is rather proud of its in-house environmental test centre. Located in Munich, it holds five different test 'cells' - each designed with a different purpose in mind. Three thermal wind tunnels - 'climactic', 'thermal' and 'environmental' - can replicate wind, precipitation and temperature conditions from the most extreme environments on earth, while two other chambers - 'altitude' and 'cold test' - can simulate the sort of conditions only mountain climbers would be able to experience. This all comes in very useful, as I'm sure you can imagine - after all, BMW sells cars all over the planet, and it's...

As public spats between two companies go, the war of words between Lotus and Caterham is one of the feistier offerings. After a drawn-out battle over the rights to the Lotus F1 name which ludicrously saw two teams use different variations of the name last year, it has now gone a step further with a bizarre press release from Lotus blasting everybody from Caterham boss Tony Fernandes to the world media. Of course, things haven't been rosy at Norwich-based Lotus for some time now. After revealing a plan to scrap the traditional lightweight sports cars, the brand decided to launch an ambitious plan...

There's a lot to be said for modesty - particularly in the automotive world. When there are a great number of all-talk-and-no-trousers, spoiler-clad slowpoke models floating around these days, it's always refreshing to stumble on a secret athlete or two. We're talking about the wolves in sheep's clothing - the Usain Bolts in fat suits, if you will. We're not interested in things with badges like VXR or RS on the back - they're far too showy for our tastes, and do rather give the game away. No, we're looking for the real unassuming types - the kinds of models even...

Yesterday Tesco Cars announced it had decided to close business with immediate effect, almost exactly one year after the service first launched. As a consequence Tesco Cars will no longer accept any orders and any existing pre-orders have been cancelled but can be fully refunded. This news has come as a big shock to the motoring community. To see a giant supermarket chain last such a short time in the consumer car market raises plenty of questions about how exactly they went about this business and what exactly went wrong. It seems a long way away from the 'industry-changing' publicity around the launch...

Yes, another year, another April Fools' day. What joy. While you were busy keeping on your toes though, members of the car industry - us included - took some time from their busy schedules to invent a few products that they won't actually be putting on sale. Though possibly not through lack of want. So in no particular order, here's what you might have spotted yesterday morning were you not busy constructing ways to give your friend, parent or significant other a heart attack. Enjoy! BMW's 'Turn your car into a coach' As you might have noticed - from the numerous campaigns...

Stand on the brake. Stand on the gas. Let go of the brake. Keep standing on the gas. Hang onto the steering wheel. Sounds simple enough, eh? Accelerating to 60mph in three seconds requires something of a leap of faith. The sheer physical effect that going from stationary to very fast in a very small amount of time immediately delivers a burst of adrenaline that can feel crippling. It's a fight or flight reflex that sometimes invites a complete brain freeze, but instinct usually kicks in. ESP is off, all the settings are firmed up - apart from the suspension. It's softened...

The survey suggests that 85 per cent of car buyers in the UK are male, with just 15 per cent being women. Apparently, out of the 85 per cent of male car buyers, David is the most common name; with John, Paul, Mark and Chris following respectively. The most common names for female drivers are Julie, Sarah, Claire, Karen and Susan. Here's a few more stats that, we can all agree, constitute vital information: -The most common area for these car buyers to live is in Birmingham, Guildford or Reading, these being the top three. -Wednesday is the most popular day to look...